Chapter 86: Fearless Backing (Add to Bookshelf to Avoid Losing the Book)

Everyone abruptly stopped in their tracks and looked toward the central dance floor of the bar. Yet the lighting was dim, with only the overhead spotlights shifting through a spectrum of colors, cloaking everything in the center in a hazy blur.

Only Hua Tianyu managed to see clearly the woman who had let out the sharp scream.

It was a girl with twin ponytails, her face still bearing an unmistakable air of youth, shouting out. Though she wasn’t exactly beautiful, she drew all eyes with her strikingly curvaceous figure, her silhouette sparking endless imagination.

At that moment, this girl—Lan Juan—had halted her dance, glaring angrily at a young man in front of her, who was dressed in hip-hop attire.

The young man, nicknamed Bun, had all his features crammed into the center of a broad face, leaving the rest of his cheeks oddly empty, as if all the folds of a steamed bun had been squeezed together in the middle.

He leered at the girl with a lascivious grin, his gaze traveling openly from her chest down to her hips, and his hands made all sorts of obscene squeezing gestures in the air.

“Why did you grope me?” Lan Juan demanded.

While she’d been dancing earlier, she had suddenly felt someone grope her from behind. The first time, she thought it was accidental and said nothing. But the second time, the hand not only touched her, but pinched her hard enough to hurt, even through the fleshier, less sensitive area of her backside, causing her to cry out unexpectedly.

When she stopped and turned around, she saw this lecherous man looking at her with ill intent, his hands still making lewd gestures. Lan Juan could no longer hold back and shouted her accusation.

Her outcry immediately drew everyone’s attention on the dance floor, and the music and dancing came to a halt.

Lin Lin and Xia Yang, now able to see the two parties involved, quickly made their way over. This was their establishment; if something like this happened here, they had to handle it. Otherwise, fewer and fewer women would come, which would in turn drive the men away. And if both men and women stopped coming, the place would be finished. If the bar was finished, then people like Lin Lin who depended on it would lose their livelihood.

Even someone as disreputable as Meng Yaowu wouldn’t dare harass female patrons in his own bar.

Bun, seemingly oblivious to Lin Lin and Xia Yang’s approach, retorted to Lan Juan’s accusation, “Where did I touch you?”

“You touched my…” Lan Juan blushed, embarrassed to say “butt” in front of so many people.

“You touched me from behind!” she said at last.

Although she didn’t say the exact word, everyone present understood what she meant. When a man gropes a woman from behind, what else could he possibly be grabbing?

“Which part’s the ‘behind’?” Bun snickered, taking another step forward before Lan Juan could answer, and grabbed her hard again.

“Is it right here?” he asked brazenly after pinching her.

Lan Juan never expected that Bun would dare to do it again in front of so many onlookers. She instinctively tried to back away, but Bun was quicker—his move calculated, hers reactive. In the end, she was caught off guard and pinched again, painfully.

Triumphant, Bun lifted his hand to his nose, inhaled deeply, and put on a look of intoxicated pleasure. “Smells great! Beautiful, what perfume do you wear?” he asked with a lecherous grin.

Everyone saw this. This was no longer a furtive grope—it was blatant molestation.

“What’s going on? Isn’t anyone going to do something?”

“Who is this guy? What a thug!” A few bold, justice-minded men started cursing at Bun, only to be tugged back by their girlfriends, warning them not to get involved.

“This place is out of control! We’re not staying here!” Several frightened girls, shocked that someone could be molested so openly, decided to leave.

Hearing the muttering around him, Bun turned and swept the crowd with a vicious glare. Suddenly, he whipped a switchblade from his waist.

With a metallic snap, the blade flicked open, gleaming coldly.

“If any of you say another word, I’ll stab you!” he threatened, voice menacing.

Relying on the backing of powerful figures, Bun dared to act so brazenly in Xingyu Bar. If he were alone, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the bar’s many regulars—but with someone behind him, he felt untouchable. He was counting on the bar’s small staff and weak presence to let him get away with it.

So he drew his knife, waiting for the staff to come and negotiate, expecting things to fizzle out as always.

As for him—Bun—nothing would happen. Tomorrow he’d be back, dancing, flirting, pinching as he pleased.

The sight of the knife instantly silenced the crowd. Some people on the edges began to slip away. There was no point staying—he had a weapon, and clearly no one wanted to test him. There were plenty of other bars in the Upper North District; they would just go somewhere safer.

Amidst the chaos, Xia Yang arrived at the center of the dance floor. From a distance, he’d seen Bun groping Lan Juan, and now he arrived just as Bun drew his switchblade.

Before today, when confronted by someone like Bun, Xia Yang’s first step would have been to ask about the man’s background, see who he might have behind him. If the man had no powerful backers, they’d rough him up, force an apology, and throw him out, never letting him back in. But if he had connections, things became complicated—they’d try to resolve it with words, and if they had to use force, they’d be careful, to avoid future trouble.

But today, Xia Yang’s courage was different.

Brother Wu was a big shot in the Upper North District, yet in front of their own Brother Tian, he’d been as docile as a lapdog, not even daring to fart after being slapped in the face.

And this guy? Who did he think he was, daring to molest women and pull a knife in their bar? Did he really think his backer was more formidable than Brother Tian?

In front of Brother Tian, these people were nothing.

Today, he would make sure Bun learned his lesson—he wouldn’t let him walk out of Xingyu Bar unscathed.

“Go to hell, scum!” Xia Yang roared, sprinted a few steps forward, and launched a flying kick straight at Bun’s back.